Telling the tragic true tale of brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, Weiße Rose, with its stark storytelling and pared down orchestration, takes us back to Nazi Germany and to the priso...więcej »
Wagner’s most elusive and enigmatic opera, Parsifal has given scholars much to think about it since its premiere in 1882. A cryptic mixture of Christian, pagan and oriental elements, as well ...więcej »
Best known for his final opera, The Stone Guest, Alexander Dargomyzhsky was a 19th-century composer who effectively bridged the gap in Russian national opera between Mikhail Glinka and the later ge...więcej »
Franz Schubert was a prolific composer, perhaps best known for his symphonies and chamber music, but he also turned his hand to Romantic opera. Despite having no experience of seeing his theatrical...więcej »
Christoph Willibald Gluck is one of the great reformers of opera, departing from the tried and tested genres of opera seria in the 18th century: Metastasio's drama per musica and Rameau's trag&eacu...więcej »
Christoph Willibald Gluck is one of the great reformers of opera, departing from the tried and tested genres of opera seria in the 18th century: Metastasio's drama per musica and Rameau's trag&eacu...więcej »
Of all the Strauss-Hoffmansthal collaborations, Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) is by far the most ambitious, and perhaps the opera with the richest musical ideas. Dealing with ...więcej »
Płyta 1.Adam, Theo - Tiefland (Oper In 1 Vorspiel Und 2 AkVorspiel - Ohe! Ohe! Ohe!Zwei Vaterunser Bet'ichWenn Ich Nur WuessteIst Pedro Nicht Hier?Na, Mein Pedro...więcej »
It was by chance in 1900 that Dvorák came by the libretto for Rusalka by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil. It hadbeen declined by two of Dvorak's pupils, Nedbal and Suk, as well as J.B. Foerst...więcej »
Not strictly speaking an opera, King Arthur, or The British Worthy is a 'semi-opera'. Semi-operas were dramas in four or five acts, with lengthy musical sections. The main characters only speak, an...więcej »
First performed in 1917 in Munich (conducted by Bruno Walter), Pfitzner's opera on the great 16th-century composer Palestrina became popular with those in German musical society who had become host...więcej »
One of the best-loved of all operas, Puccini's Madama Butterfly was given its premiere at La Scala Milan in 1904, where it received a terrible reception. The chemistry of the collaborators should h...więcej »
Rimsky-Korsakov's tenth opera, The Tsar's Bride moves away from the fairytale tableaux-style of opera in which he had triumphed. This is a grand narrative in the Verdian style. That said, the music...więcej »
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) composed his comic opera May Night in 1878-9, at a time when he was fascinated in the stories for the supernatural and the fantastic. It was also at this time th...więcej »
Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov showed musical promise as a child, but the pursuit of a Naval career meant that much of his grounding in musical theory was gained in between various tours of du...więcej »
One of the most influential and revolutionary works of the 19th century, Tristan und Isolde, Wagner's music drama of 1865, more than any other work shaped the course of music right up to the early ...więcej »
Dividing his time in the 1830s between Paris and Berlin, renowned German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was considered the father of the Grand Opéra thanks to his skilful combination of elements...więcej »
Béatrice et Bénédict was borne of Berlioz's lifelong fascination with Shakespeare. A performance by the Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet rep...więcej »
It was with this opera, premiered in Milan in 1830, that Donizetti's reputation as one of the leading opera composers of Europe was cemented. The premiere was quickly followed by performances in Lo...więcej »
